INX Closes Its Ethereum-Based IPO With $85M in Proceeds

The first registered offering of security tokens in the U.S. has closed with an estimated $85 million in proceeds from more than 7,200 investors.

The initial public offering (IPO), which kicked off more than eight months ago on the Ethereum blockchain, follows a pending CAD$39.6 million ($32.2 million) private placement that INX raised ahead of its listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Along with earlier private token sales, INX expects to have raised more than $125 million for the launch and operation of its INX cryptocurrency and digital securities trading platform. The move places INX near the top of the list of publicly traded crypto exchanges, after Coinbase listed last month and as others such as Kraken are courting public markets.

Read more: How to Watch INX’s IPO in Real Time on the Ethereum Blockchain

INX is the first company to complete a security token offering that was registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The exchange plans to offer cryptocurrency and digital securities trading.

“With the successful completion of our IPO, we are well positioned to execute on our vision to shape the future of capital markets with new and exciting financial instruments – based on blockchain and digital assets,” Shy Datika, INX co-founder and president, said in a press release.

The INX token is also the first exchange token to give investors on-chain revenue, said Tokensoft CEO Mason Borda. (Tokensoft was the transfer agent for the INX IPO.) Token holders receive 40% of distributions from the company with no voting rights, while equity holders will receive 60% of distributions with voting rights.

“We're excited to welcome the launch of the INX Exchange and to see how they're going to integrate the INX token into their platform,” Borda said. “Is it solely a way for users to get a percentage of those cash flows or what are the unique ways in which they're going to be able to connect with their users?”

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The INX sale is also one of the most distributed security token sales in the U.S., Borda said. Because most security token sales in the U.S. are private placements, they are usually limited to 99 or 1,999 investors under SEC regulations, Borda added.

Payments for the tokens were almost evenly split, with 54% from the cryptocurrencies BTC, ETH and USDC (which were converted to U.S. dollars) and 46% coming from U.S. dollar wires.

The token offering outside the United States was advised by A-Labs Advisory and Finance Ltd. The private placement in Canada was managed by PI Financial and Eight Capital, and co-led by Beacon Securities Limited and Cormark Securities Inc.